To:G. V. PLEKHANOV

Published:First published in 1925.

      Sent from London to Geneva.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages150-151.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

March 15, 1903

Ihave received your letter. You are writing “The Ides of
March”, that is excellent. Thedead-lineis March 25, 1903—the
article must be here.We expect it without fail.

Maslov’sbook is being sent to me in a few days from
Paris (I shall ask them to make haste) and I shall send it
on to youat
once.[3]It contains interesting data on the
harm of the village commune, which I quoted in
Paris.[4]

Ihad already ordered David’s book and am now reading
it. Terribly watery, poor and trite. I am trying to finish
it quickly so as to send it on to you. Have you seen Kant-
sky’s articles on this
“neo-Proudhonist”[5]?

Ihave now set to work on a popular pamphlet for the peas-
ants on our agrarian
programme.[1]I should very much
like to demonstrate our idea of the class struggle in the
countryside on the basis ofconcretedata on the four sections of the village population (landowners, peasant bourgeoisie, middle peasantry, and semi-proletarians together
with proletarians). What do you think of such a plan?

FromParis I came away with the conviction that only
such a pamphlet could dispel the perplexities about the
cut-off lands, etc.

Aboutthe Manifesto of February 26 I have written an
article which will appear in No.
34,[2]I have categorically
insisted that it should be the leading article in view of thetremendousimportance of the Manifesto. It seems, however,that V. I. iswavering(!) and together with Y. O. is
deciding the other way round: first about Marx.

Inmy opinion, this is even preposterous.

Allthe very best.Yours,Lenin

[1]Tothe Rural Poor(see present edition, Vol. 6).—Ed.

[2]“TheAutocracy Is Wavering” (see present edition, Vol. 6).—Ed.

[3]Thisrefers to P. Maslov’s bookThe Agrarian Question in
Russia, Vol. I, the first edition of which appeared in 1903.

[4]Leninis referring to his lectures at the Russian School of Social Sciences
and at the meeting of Russian political emigrants, which he read in Paris
in February 1903.

[5]Thisrefers to the bookSozialismus und Landwirtschaftby
E. David. The reference to Kautsky concerns his article “Sozialismus
und Landwirthschaft” (Die Neue ZeitNos. 22-26 for February
and March 1903) in which he examines this book.